How To Motivate Yourself To Exercise – Part 1

Learning how to motivate yourself is a very important aspect of success, in every area or field. Motivation can help you push through resistance and stay disciplined, in the long run. Furthermore, motivation can make your training more exciting and fun.

In this post, we are going to see the most basic form of motivation, which is to find your core reason for training. You are going to accomplish this by asking a series of questions and answering them in an honest way. It is important to write your answers down either using a notebook or on your computer because you are going to need the answers for reference later on.

For faster results: Take a pen and paper and do this exercise now, as you read this post!

Question #1: What is your goal?/ What do you want?

Do not spend too much time on this. Just be specific and focus on your physical goals. What do you want right now? Why are you reading this blog? Do you want to get stronger, leaner, lose fat? Write it down.

Question #2: Why do you want this?

This is the most important question. Are you doing it for yourself? Are you doing it for someone else? Do you want to look like the models, because that’s what the media is promoting as beautiful, desirable and attractive? Or more importantly, do you want it so that you can take or to give value? Whatever reason you have, it is valid.

Probably you are going to have more than one reasons. You should aim to find a reason that motivates you and you really resonate with.

Question #3: What are you willing to do?

Here comes the action part. Are you willing to do what it takes to succeed? Are you willing to let go of the bad habits? Are you committed? If you are not willing to do what it takes, then you should go to question #2/#1 and search for a worthy goal that really motivates you.

Question #4: How would it feel if you already had it?

This question is to help you visualize the end result of your goal. Imagine that you have already achieved your goal and notice how you are feeling. This is what you are looking for, the FEELING. Let this feeling of success motivate you.

Question #5: What can you do right now that is going to move you closer to your goal?

Write down all the ideas that come to your mind. Then decide which of these ideas has the most potential to help you move faster to your goal and then take action. Action is the most important factor here. So far, you have worked on your mindset, but you have to take action if you want to succeed. The action doesn’t have to be big and great. Just to get you started. The action step can be as simple as waking up a little bit earlier and doing some stretching and mobility work.

After you have answered these questions, it is good to reference them daily, especially #4.

Please take the time and answer this questions. I truly believe that they can help you, A LOT. Stay tuned for the 2nd part.

Did you find this post helpful? Do you have any question? How do you keep yourself motivated? Feel free to comment below.

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Reference: I learned the first 3 questions from Elliot Hulse’s “The Grow Stronger Method” and I expanded them based on my own experience and practice.